Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“You feeling good enough to get some food?” Matteo asked once we were near the neighborhood. “Cesare said he could meet us at Marina’s.” He paused, glancing my way. “Or I could take you home, but don’t expect me to tuck you into bed like Nurse Hottie back there.”
“I could eat.” Especially something that wasn’t hospital food. The doctors and nurses knew their stuff, but the kitchen had clearly never heard of seasoning. And if Cesare had seen what the limp noodles they’d served under the guise of pasta, he’d have shot up the place.
It turned out to be the right choice. Marina’s bar was the complete opposite of the sterile, featureless hospital room. The place was loud. The beer wasn’t cold. The fries were soggy. But it was just what I needed to feel like myself again.
By the time Cesare and Matteo were done with their second beers—they’d made me stop after one since I was still on pain meds—talk turned to our failed mission.
“But why this time?” Cesare asked, clearly frustrated. “There was no backup the other three times the fucking truck passed by.”
“Maybe there was and we just didn’t spot it.” I’d had some time to think about it while at the hospital.
“No fucking way,” Matteo said. “We didn’t screw up.”
“Tell that to the holes in my chest,” I said.
Matteo looked pissed. Strategy was his area, and he didn’t miss much. “Something changed. They must’ve known of our plan.”
“If so, they did a lousy job preparing for us. We almost succeeded. We would have, too, if that dumb fuck behind the wheel hadn’t decided to play John Wayne,” Cesare pointed out.
“Doesn’t that just prove that they knew we were coming?” I asked.
“No,” Cesare said with finality. “Nobody expecting an attack would arm themselves with that joke up a shotgun that couldn’t even pierce armored glass.”
“Agreed,” Matteo said. “But maybe they didn’t tell the driver about the threat.”
“Like a pawn,” I said. When the other two stared at me, I elaborated. “In chess. He was expendable.” I’d played chess in middle school before learning about far more lucrative ways to spend my time.
“That might be the case,” Cesare said. “But that doesn’t explain why there was backup this time—”
“Or why they were so far behind him,” Matteo added. Sometimes they finished each others’ sentences. “Maybe they were as green as the driver. After all, they backed off the moment they saw you feeling up the hot nurse.”
A ghost of a grin crossed Cesare’s face, and for some reason, that pissed me off. “Her name is Piper.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that she’s a looker,” Matteo said.
“She’s more than that,” I said. “She took care of me.”
“That’s her job,” Matteo said.
“No, it isn’t. I mean, yeah, she’s a nurse, but she was supposed to be in the ER. Yet she kept coming to visit me.”
That got Cesare’s attention. “She did?”
“Yep.” I may have sounded a little smug.
Matteo was unimpressed. “She was probably just using you to escape her workload.”
My fist tightened as I pressed it against the table. Usually, Matteo and I got along, but he was in a pissy mood today. “Piper’s not like that. She helps people.”
Matteo held up his hands in mock surrender. “Sorry, I forgot you have a thing for nurses.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do,” Cesare said and then turned to his cousin. “It’s because of his mom.”
Matteo frowned. “She wasn’t a nurse, was she?”
“No.” My voice sounded a bit stiff, and I was getting tired. Two days laying flat on my back had killed my stamina, and the wounds in my chest were starting to throb. “But when she was in hospice, the nurses were incredible.” I’d never forget all that they’d done to make her last days as peaceful as possible.
“Shit.” Matteo’s expression softened. “I forgot about that. Sorry, man.”
I nodded. He’d been gallivanting throughout the middle east when that happened, so he wasn’t as familiar with that horrible time in my life as Cesare was. Wincing slightly, I rubbed a hand over my ribcage, feeling the thick bandages underneath.
“We should get you home,” Cesare said.
I wanted to argue, but the thought of my own bed was a good one. Still, we needed to figure out our next move, and I didn’t want to hold the guys up just because I’d gotten hurt. “I’m fine, and we’re not done here.”
Neither of them looked very convinced, but Cesare called the question. “Now that they know they’re onto us, do we want to pick a new target?”
That was also something I’d thought about a lot at the hospital. “What about Vegas? We could go down there and…”
“You’re like a broken record with the Vegas thing,” Cesare grumbled, rolling his eyes at me. “We’d get busted just by thinking about stealing a candy bar. That’s how tight things are down there. You want to go there and fuck with corporations? Go ahead, but count me out of it.”